Test Scores and a Questionnaire

Last night I received an email from the state department of education stating that my standardized test scores from last April were available online. Like so many of my colleagues at school, this left me shaking in my boots. So much of our school's livelihood is based on how our students perform on a single test to assess everything they learned throughout the school year. (Ridiculous, I know, but thanks to the No Child Left Behind Act my life now revolves around standardized testing.)

I was unable to access my scores last night because the login required my original teacher licensure number, which I no longer had on file. I had to contact our HR manager at the Central Office to get the information.

Around 8:30 this morning I was able to login and get my test scores. I was still shaking as the PDF file loaded onto my computer.

Test scores alone are not the determinant in teacher effectiveness. Our state subscribes to a concept called Value-Added assessment. In a nutshell, value-added score show a students progression from the previous year. A score of 0.0 signifies that your students made NO progression from the previous year. A score of 1.0 signifies a year's worth of progression, which should be the minimum for every teacher.

Before I go on, let me just say that this past year was a year of great change across the state. Our state curriculum standard had a drastic reformation. Before the modifications occurred, our state standards were listed as 41 out of all 50 states in difficulty. Since the change our standards are ranked as the second hardest in the country...only outdone by the great state of Massachusetts. That is a gigantic jump in rigor for our state. Of course my school system jumped on the bandwagon and tackled the state standards. We worked the entire year to make sure we met all standards.

Back on track...

I opened my scores and this is what I learned:
- The state average for 6th grade science was -1.3 (Yes a NEGATIVE 1.3)
- My school's average was +1.3
- My value-added score was a +4.8!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was jumping for joy. Not only did I blast past the state average, I am one of the top science teachers in my school. I know that this is vanity, and I agree. However I cannot help it. I am always so worried that my students will not do well. Getting the scores I received helped put my mind to ease and lets me know I am doing something right in my classes. My students are learning!

This just made my day and week!

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The second part of my day was also quite interesting. I went to the mailroom at lunch and found a questionnaire in my box. The questionnaire was titled "Reconfiguration Placement Survey."

This questionnaire was distributed before our system does a school reconfiguration. Currently our elementary schools are Pre-K through 5th grade, our middle school is 6th to 7th grade, and our high school is 8th grade to 12 th grade. After the reconfiguration in 2012 we will be as follows

Elementary >>> Pre-K to 4th
Intermediate >>> 5th to 6th
Middle >>> 7th to 8th
High >>> 9th to 12th

As part of the reconfiguration, there will be a number of teachers shuffled to fill needed positions. The survey sent out today was done to help our leadership make decisions on where to place everyone. We were asked about our current placement, our licensure endorsements, Highly Qualified Status, etc.

One of the most pertinent sections was our preference of placements. We were first asked which schools we would choose. I chose Intermediate first, Middle second, and one of the elementary schools third.  Then there was the question of what subjects we would like to teach. I asked for math first, science second, and social studies third. I asked for math first in hopes of being moved back to mathematics. I miss teaching it terribly.

The final question was very perplexing. The survey asked "Which is more important to you, the school or the subject taught?"

This question was hard for me. Do I put school is more important in hopes of staying at my current school? (I love my school very much!) Do I put the subject first in hopes of being put back in math? This was not an easy choice. I chose "subject." I decided that I could teach anywhere and make the best of the situation.

Honestly, I really wanted to put "Just put me wherever!" In the end, the decision of placement will be left to the administration. I also know that I am Highly Qualified to teach all subjects (Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies) from Kindergarten up to 8th grade. That is a rarity anywhere. So I know that I will be one of the last ones placed to fill a needed position. I will manage!

What would be my ideal placement? I have two options:
(1) I would teach 5th or 6th grade mathematics at my current school.
(2) I would teach 7th or 8th grade mathematics at the new state-of-the-art middle school.

Only time will tell. We are supposed to know our placements before the end of this current school year. The anticipation will build as time flies!


What a day!!!

My Classroom

Just thought I would share with you some pictures from my classroom:

Yes, this is my classroom from today. I am overly OCD, so it is a clean classroom.

Here are a few things I have in the room:

This dragon was a Christmas gift from a Chinese student I had 4 years ago. It is one of the strangest (but completely awesome) gifts I have ever received.

The bears are from my travels. (NYC, London, National Cathedral in Washington DC, and a Tennessee Bear from a UT Football game.)

The disc is from St. John in the Virgin Islands and so are the last two lizards. The top lizard is hand-painted, and I picked him up while in San Diego. 

Just thought I would share part of my world with you today. 

A Glimpse of Tragedy

As I child, I lived in the most perfect subdivision of our town. My house was dead-center of the subdivision, which made my family the center of attention most days. (Everyone loved my crazy & fun dad! He still is a bigger kid that I ever was!) Our subdivision had about 20 houses in it, and almost every house had two or three kids my age. I went to school with all these kids. Many of them were in my classes all the way through high school.

The subdivision was picture perfect. Every lawn was always perfectly manicured. Everyone was growing vegetables in their individual gardens. Every other house had a swimming pool. You never locked your doors at night. We played at each others' houses growing up. We had hide-n-seek across the neighborhood. My neighbors' parents were my parents, too. Everyone in the neighborhood knew your business and took care of you. It was a huge family!

Did I mention we were perfectly situated adjacent to a lake and wooded area. I can remember camping out by the lake each summer. It was beautiful!

Life was perfect!

Fast forward to just after Christmas of 2008...

In the middle of the night there was a loud rumbling. Suddenly, there was a tidal wave of mud, ash, and water headed right for your house...your neighborhood...you! This wave picked up your house and carried it across the street into the neighbor's yard. Your car was mangled and destroyed. The landscape, as you knew it, was no more!

What happened?

In the middle of the night, a earthen-retention wall gave way and let loose millions of gallons of mud, ash, and water from the retention pond located at the TVA Steam Plant, in Kingston, TN. 

TVA is the acronym for the Tennessee Valley Authority. The TVA originated from the public works program instituted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression. The TVA is the largest producer of electricity in the south. They provide electricity for all of Tennessee, all the surrounding states, and beyond. TVA manages all of the dams, steam plants, and nuclear plants in the state. 

The failing of the retention wall, and the onslaught of millions of gallons of polluted water changed the world in the area near the Steam Plant. Roads were wiped out, houses destroyed, rail road tracks mangled, and water in places where it had never been before. Miraculously, no one was killed in this incident. That, in itself, was a miracle. 

I look back now and really count our blessings. My father was a heavy-equipment operator for the Steam Plant. He helped build and maintain this earthen-wall. Many times he would have said heavy equipment on top of that wall. I can tell you that one time the machine he was in (most likely a bull-dozer) went off the edge of that wall and into the water. He was stuck in that machine under the water. Luckily he was able to break the glass and escape. But, what if he had been on that wall the day it gave way? I shudder at the thought of it!

My family is lucky. We moved out of that subdivision a few years ago. However, so many of the families I grew up with were still there. I can tell you that even two years later, the area is not the same. It looks so much more like an industrial work zone instead of the beautiful lake-side neighborhoods we all loved and knew. It is extremely saddening to think about it. 

One of the greatest tragedies that has occurred is that the family that have moved away have lost touch with the families they were connected to for so many years. One of my best friends, Callie, and her family have moved to the other side of the state following this incident. I never get to see them anymore. It is sad. 

Just a thought for the day! 

I Love Hillary Clinton!

New Addition

I got quite the surprise today before classes began.

Two of my students, let's call them Callie and Katie, brought me the newest addition to my classroom rubber duck collection. This very much over-sized duck has been named "Moby Duck." We will call him Moby for short. This is rubber duck #121 in the collection. (I actually had one of my students come up to me today to tell me she confirmed we now had 121 ducks...she went around the room and counted them.)

I find it hilarious that the students decided that this duck was a male duck. What makes it even funnier is that this male duck is wearing a PINK rain hat. They finally realize that real men wear pink.

Do the students think that pink is my favorite color? Oh no...they may be on to me.

Love my students!